WWDC (Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference) is a major highlight of the annual tech calendar Although ostensibly for developers, as the name implies, Apple has announced significant new hardware lines such as Vision Pro, HomePod, and iPhone SE, giving the main keynote a significant consumer edge

WWDC also saw the release of the first beta versions of software, most notably the upcoming iOS 18, which is important and is expected to see Apple make significant advances in artificial intelligence

Here's what we expect to see at WWDC 2024

WWDC 2024 will almost certainly be held somewhere in June; it has been part of Apple's calendar since 1983 on various dates, but has been held in June every year since 2007, and there is no reason to expect major changes now

The exact dates will not be revealed until closer to the time, but one should keep an eye on the 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th (the earlier of these dates being the most likely), as the big keynote speech that opens the event will be on Monday

In the past, Apple has announced exciting new hardware at WWDC, including the Vision Pro and the first generation HomePod

It is certainly possible that hardware will be announced again this year, but it will probably be a generational update rather than an entirely new line

However, it is equally possible that they will have their own events and this will be the year when it is all about software This is especially likely given that this is the year in which Apple is expected to make a major announcement about artificial intelligence with iOS 18

WWDC is usually when Apple releases the first developer beta of its upcoming iPhone operating system, and according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, iOS 18 is "one of the biggest, if not the biggest, iOS updates in the company's history" It appears to be

We know that part of this update will include the introduction of the RCS text protocol for better communication with Android devices, but the more important update should involve artificial intelligence, the buzzword of 2024

According to Gurman, Apple's Craig Federighi has "ordered" his team to ensure that iOS 18 is filled with "features that work on the company's massive language model" And with Apple reportedly offering millions of dollars to publishers for AI training purposes, the results could be quite different from the ChatGPTs of this world in terms of reliability

What does it look like in practice: according to code found in the latest beta of iOS 174, the AI, codenamed Ajax, appears to be able to summarize content and answer questions based on user prompts

The code also appears to have references to integration with iMessage This makes sense since Garman had previously stated that Ajax would work with the Messages app to "field questions and autocomplete sentences"

In other words, Siri appears to be getting an important and long overdue upgrade in terms of its smarts The big question, however, is whether it will require new hardware to function

Apple boasts a track record of putting the latest version of iOS on older iPhones, but artificial intelligence may be a bridge too far for the more vintage generation, especially since the company reportedly prefers on-device AI over cloud-based solutions In other words, this may require the upcoming A18 processor to be powerful

Nevertheless, it makes sense for Apple to have a cloud-based version for older iPhones, since the iPhone 16 will not be available until September, with an early beta release as early as June

We will find out in a few more months